To our friends and family!
Luke and I
are so excited to finally be able to announce that we are in fact moving in
exactly two & a half weeks from
today! And we figured this would be the best way to get the word out to our
larger community so that we could share in detail what the next chapter holds
for us!
The Where:
directly one house behind ours. The Why: to become Community Coordinators for a
Community Renewal Friendship House!
Friendship
Houses and the Yellow House are both initiatives of Community Renewal
International (the faith based nonprofit that I work for here in Shreveport).
The Yellow House of course is our intentional community for young adults. And
our Friendship Houses are community houses guised as homes set within the
context of an at-risk neighborhood (low income, high crime rate). CRI has ten
Friendship Houses in the Shreveport/Bossier area. And here, they move a family
into these homes, into these neighborhoods, much like a missionary family. One
person in the couple then becomes the Community Coordinator for that area
(either over a youth house or a kids house).
Our Friendship Houses provided our afterschool program (called Club),
morning GED/life skills classes, neighborhood connection events, college prep
opportunities, tutoring, meals, camps & activities, healthy living and
urban gardening opportunities, etc. And within the neighborhoods where we have
moved, our crime stats show a drop of 45-75% in annual crime, and the evident
fruit of connected people to one another. The Friendship House’s goal (as it is
that of CRI) is to rebuild the foundation of relationships among our
neighborhoods, knowing that out of that foundation, the rebuilding of society occurs.
This is how we’ve seen the Good News played out so evidently.
The Highland
Youth Friendship house was where the Yellow House first got our foot in the
door with Community Renewal prior to officially coming on board as a part of
their organization last June. Their
Community Coordinator at the time had invited us to visit early on after our
move; and it did not take us long to realize that we were not interested in
reinventing the wheel that CRI had already so faithfully been doing in Highland
for years. So we offered, “We know our age group, and you know the
neighborhood. So if this can be mutually enhancing, let’s not do this thing
separately.” And then after about 6 months of walking together following that
first conversation, we became CRI’s young adult initiative.
When that
Community Coordinator’s parents became very ill last fall and the Friendship
House’s activities had to be postponed for a bit until things could be figured
out, Luke and I began to notice what gap that place actually filled in our
neighborhood as kids started showing up on our porch more and more for snacks
or things to occupy their time. So in January of this year, I offered to begin
opening Club twice a week to help alleviate some of that need.
It was the
day before Club even reopened ( when I was picking up the keys to the FH) that
I felt the Holy Spirit saying that Luke and I would be putting our “yes” on the
table for moving into the house this coming summer and taking on the job of
Community Coordinator. This was a difficult pill to swallow because we did not
know how the Yellow House and my current job as its Coordinator would fit into
this equation, and it was a big suggestion to bring to Luke especially since he
and I were pretty partial to our first home that we havee not yet been in for a
year.
But it
quickly became apparent to both us and our family at Community Renewal that
this was what was next, that the Yellow House’s internship would only compliment
and support the Highland Friendship House (and in fact, Club would give a daily
place for the interns to serve/grow relationships in the neighborhood), and
that Luke and I were excited to be choosing this next step together. So CRI
hired Sarah Duet as our new Intern Director to help carry the load of the new
model, and we began shifting gears towards this change.
So, that is
the move we are about to make. Luke and I will be lugging our boxes to the
beautiful, cloud-grey home directly behind our current one at the end of May.
We will be renting our house out to some friends of ours and embarking on a new
level of what it means to relocate for the sake of renewal. And as we dive into
this next year (and especially this next month) of change and trial, we ask for
your prayers to go ahead of us!
We also
invite you to consider partnering with us, as so many do with our Friendship
Houses. Relationship-wise, money-wise, supply-wise, volunteer-wise…the
opportunities are countless.
And last but
not least, we are putting out a “House Warming” gift list that focuses on needs
of the Friendship House’s Club which will kick off again this coming August!
Those items are directly below this letter. If you or someone you know would
like to donate something for an in-kind tax write off towards this “House
Warming” list, please email me at britneywinnlee@gmail.com.
We’re
ridiculously grateful for all your hands in our lives that have laid the bricks
to the path we’re walking towards next. We love you, and because we’re so
thankful for you, we wanted to update you on the process!
Onward to
box-packing,
The Lees
Friendship House “House Warming” Gift List
·
2-3 New Computers (laptop or desktop, compact enough
to fit on a thin computer bar)
·
2 Flat screen TVS (one for ongoing Friendship House
slide show & one for a game room)
·
Wii system, controllers, and games
·
3-4 new bean bags
·
Hobby Lobby gift certificates for craft supplies
·
Wal-Mart gift certificates for office/school supplies
& general Club supplies
·
Sod donation for a small backyard space
·
Basketballs & pumps
·
New or gently used sofa/loveseat set
